Turkish police fire tear gas at banned secularist march

Thousands of people holding national flags gather at the mausoleum of Ataturk to celebrate the country's Republic Day in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 29, 2012.

Reuters reports — Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of secularists protesting at a banned rally in the capital on Monday against what they see as an increasingly authoritarian and Islamist government.

The scenes of chanting men and women draped in Turkish flags and carrying banners portraying the country's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk highlight a longstanding division in Turkish society between staunch secularists on the one hand and more conservative religious Turks on the other. Full story…

Adem Altan / AFP - Getty Images

Riot police use tear gas and water cannons to disperse a crowd as thousands of people march to the mausoleum of Ataturk to celebrate the country's Republic Day in Ankara, Oct. 29.

Umit Bektas / Reuters

Demonstrators wave flags as they march to the Anitkabir, mausoleum of the founder of secular Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in central Ankara, Oct. 29.

Burhan Ozbilici / AP

Police officers in riot gear stand watch as thousands of people prepare to march from the First National Assembly, seen in background, to the mausoleum of Ataturk to celebrate the Republic Day in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 29.